I like playing as a grifter it ain't much but it's a living. Still, I'm going to remember my adventures with Sal and the little moments of friendship and betrayal throughout each run. Is there a genre they can't do? The balance of narrative and deck-building made for a much more engaging experience than I often have with card-based titles, even if it feels like more could be done to connect those systems and bolster the storytelling. Shortcomings aside, Griftlands is another slice of low-key brilliance from developers Klei. It might make narrative sense, but it's not very interesting to keep restarting and bumping into walls like these. I was coasting through the game for the first two days, and then out of nowhere comes a fight several orders of magnitude tougher than anything preceding it. There is a Story Mode setting for those who want to focus purely on the writing, but it feels like a band-aid on some harsh difficulty spikes. Failing close to the finish line is never not going to take the wind out of your sails. You can get a boost on your next run, too-but there's only so much of the sting it can take away, and despite the convincing way side missions are generated, the main story remains the same. These are also randomised for subsequent runs, to an impressively varied degree-ensuring new runs feel reasonably fresh and that softens the blow when you do die. Recurring NPCs pop up in unexpected places, leading to tough spots where you might have to contemplate a double cross to achieve your goals. Griftlands does make good on far-reaching consequences. Negotiations are the game's card battling at its best. It's a brilliant deckbuilding roguelite that pits you against enemies in battles of the mind (to negotiate tough situations) or battles of the, uh, body (shooty shooty), as you follow the stories of three. There are side activities to help but in general, focusing on combat decks is the easier path through the game. Rock, Paper, Shotgun These are the sorts of things you can get up to in Klei Entertainment's Griftlands, which has now left early access. Worse, committing to negotiation decks will punish you during the game’s handful of inescapable combat encounters. I wish I could see the impact of my chosen cards on my relationships or the story. Negotiations are disconnected in a way that turns every interaction into a simple binary of success or failure. Compared with something like Signs of the Sojourner, which much more cleverly uses its mechanics to shape and fuel character interactions, Griftlands feels a little awkward. I really felt like I was juggling a lot of plates, in the best way-the pressure always on to make the most of each turn.Īs an abstraction, it's captivating-but Griftlands never quite bridges the space between the actual dialogue and the card game in which debates take place. You're constantly looking to chip away at your enemy’s smaller points, while piling damage onto their core argument. There, your cards are used for building arguments against your opponent. The negotiations are far more interesting. Battles are turn-based affairs where you draw cards for attacks and abilities, and can earn or hire party members. There are two modes of play: battles and negotiations. Sharp writing elevates almost every NPC into someone memorable (Image credit: Klei Entertainment)
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